Automated parking systems have increased in demand over the last 20 years as the number of automobiles continuously increase worldwide and land availability for parking spaces continuously decrease. This increased demand may be particularly felt in large cities, especially in urban centers, where land is frequently allocated for high-rise office and residential buildings which are occupied by large concentrations of people, many with vehicles, and limited space is allocated for parking purposes.
In an attempt to solve the limited parking space problem, multi-level parking structures able to accommodate a relatively large number of vehicles in each floor are frequently constructed. These may be constructed as separate structures explicitly dedicated to vehicle parking, or as part of a larger structure, for example, a high-rise building with several floors dedicated for parking purposes. Some multi-level parking structures are generally configured to allow vehicles to be driven through each floor by their drivers in search of a parking space. Other types of multi-level parking structures may include automated parking facilities.
Automated parking facilities generally eliminate the need for the vehicle to be driven through the structure. These types of facilities generally include parking slots in each floor into which a driverless vehicle is placed by an automated conveying system. The automated conveying system may also be used to remove the vehicle from the parking slot when the vehicle is returned to the driver. In automated parking facilities, drivers typically self-drive their vehicle into a vehicle entry/exit station where it may be accessed by a transport mechanism which is part of the automated conveyor system. The transport mechanism, which may include a shuttle car, an elevator, a crane, a movable platform, and other type of equipment suitable for moving and/or lifting the vehicle, may load the vehicle and transport it to its respective parking place.
Multi-level parking structures, including those with automated parking facilities, generally require large tracts of land. This is usually a problem in urban centers where the cost of land may be expensive and the availability of the land may be rather low. An example of a vehicle parking structure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,488 B1 to Vita et al. Other related art includes U.S. Pat. No. 8,011,870 132 to Venkatraman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,305 to Go, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,753 to Schween.